1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to knitting needles and, more specifically, to knitting needles adapted to knit small circumferential areas, such as sleeves, cuffs, socks, gloves, and hats.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A problem frequently faced by both professional and amateur knitters is the difficulty in knitting small circumferential areas, such as cuffs, socks, and gloves. Due to the geometry of conventional knitting needles, one widely-used method of knitting these circumferential areas of garments is to use multiple needles, typically four, as shown in FIG. 12 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,187. Multiple loops are retained on each of three needles, while the fourth needle is used to add additional loops to one of the needles. Once enough loops are added to a particular needle to form a portion of the desired curved surface, the loops are transferred to the next-adjacent needle. In this manner, the ability to minimize the curvature of the circumferential area of the garment is undesirably limited by the multiple needles used to create the curvature.
One alternative is to independently knit two flat panels, then knit the panels together along their length. This undesirably results in visible seams, which may detract from the aesthetics of the garment.
Another alternative has been to affix a flexible cable at one end of each of a pair of knitting needles. This alternative is generally known in the art as a circular knitting needle. Such a needle is shown in various patents dating back to the early 1900""s, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,313,461, 1,989,352, and 2,633,720. The cable retains the loops at the distal end of the needles, enabling the circumferential portions of a garment to be knitted in a more curvilinear shape. The shortcoming of this alternative has been that the lengths of the needles still limit the ability to minimize the circumferential areas to be knitted. The needles cannot be used to knit too tight a circumference, because the loops still need to travel the length of the needle to be retained on the cable.
In order to achieve smaller circumferential areas, the knitting needle can be provided with a bend as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,313,461, 2,507,174, and 5,720,187. However, even with the added curvature of the bent needles, there is still a need to knit even smaller circumferential areas than possible with the circular needle configurations. Thus, the present invention is aimed at achieving a circular needle capable of knitting smaller circumferential areas than conventional knitting methods and devices, while preserving a seamless look to finished garments.
The present invention utilizes a pair of hollow needles, each including an elongated channel therein along most of its length. The elongated channel of each needle permits a flexible cable connecting the needles to run or slide along the length of both of the needles. The cable is slidably retained in each of the needles by suitable retention means, such as a spherical member secured to each end of the cable, the spherical member having a diameter greater than the width of the channel in each of the needles, but sufficiently less than the inner diameter of the hollow needles to permit the cable to easily slide along the length of the needle.
Particular aspects of the present invention will be explained in greater derail in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawing.